Re: Yo! Bhangra

Pradip Kiran Sarkar (pks@maia.cl.au.ac.th)
Thu, 1 May 1997 11:39:19 +0700 (TST)


>
> Umm... I don't think that derivation of the name is true. The music is
> based on Punjabi folk music, sure - but that folk music was (and still is)
> called... bhangra. I got to hear quite a lot of it back in my Kingston Poly
> days (early 80's) which was w-a-a-a-y before anyone used the word "rave" in
> any other context than "raving mad".

You could not have been more correct. Bhangra is indeed Punjabi folk
music. But, since it was a music of celebration, musical performances were
accompanied with dances during the harvesting season (Punjab is referred
to as the prairees of the Indian subcontinent). Indeed, the hi-energy
generated by Bhangra music and dance festivals, in which local not-so-hard
intoxicants may have been instrumental, could be more intense than that
by some synthetic drug-fuelled modern day rave.Moreover, the instruments
used were typically Punjabi or North Indian.

>
> The basic bhangra rhythms are really pretty cool - though quite often they
> get dropped in favour of something more western.

The bhangra that we hear nowadays could be referred to as modern
or new school, and came out of the Indian and Pakistani ghettos of English
towns and cities of Canada. This is where the western element comes...from
the fact that these artists are actually British or Canadian. The
predecessor would perhaps, attain "classic" status or remain folk (I
prefer the latter).

Pradip